Susanna's Corner

I’d like to take a moment to recognize the work of the young professionals in Harris County that have done some great work this cycle. These groups are fostering political involvement and volunteerism and helping people connect with ways they can advance Republican ideas and causes.

I stared at my sun-reddened inner eyelids defiantly, slowly growing conscious of morning. Suddenly, I remembered. It was Friday, and I was late. I pulled on a Sopwith Camel hat, scarf, and goggles, hopped on a bike, and pedaled two miles to join a crowd of several thousand costumed people. We gathered to watch a 72-foot walk-in statue called Embrace burst into ritual flames and burn until nothing remained.

Why, I wondered, would anyone intentionally burn a work of art? Why would thousands of people gather to celebrate its destruction? Because the burning was an object lesson – the scheduled destruction of the statue forced us to experience it while we could. It focused our attention on what we could do in the present.

And I decided that the lesson of the burning – for me – was to embrace each day as a fleeting experience, regardless of the focal point.